When I took the Teenage Girls to Europe

I graduated in 3 ½ years from college, well, actually 4 ½ because I took off a year and went to Israel to work with Sherut La’am, a service organization after my sophomore year.  I graduated in January and got a job the following September at the age of 22  teaching French to 9^th graders. I saw a brochure about taking a group to Europe for 6 weeks so I went for it. My superintendent called me in; NOT the principal—the superintendent! He said, “Cheryl I think you’re a little young and inexperienced for this.” What’s wrong with this next sentence. “Dr. Smith I really respect you but I’m going to do what I want to. I’m going to take a group to Europe.”

               CHUTZPA!  I ended up with a group of six young ladies who were all fifteen years old. They were to spend four weeks studying French in St. Malo and the rest of the time touring France, Switzerland and Italy.  Five of the girls could pay their way, but one could not.  Arla was what we used to call, ‘fast’. She smoked, used fake ID’s and wore way too much black smudgy make up on her eyes. To further complicate matters Arla’s mother had married a man only 7 years older than Arla. Arla was derided and I was ridiculed in the teachers’ lounge.

 “Why would you even THINK of taking Arla! She’s no good. She’s going to amount to nothing! She’s a waste of time and money.” But I saw something in Arla. I saw something worth saving. The parents gave her permission to go, paid a little   money and I set to raising  the rest. I put on a school-wide dance where all the money went to her ticket. We had a car wash and popcorn sales. We got it! We got all the money so Arla could go.

               I was determined to be absolutely responsible and show Dr. Smith that I could  do a fine job. I wanted to bring home 6 healthy, intact, enriched young ladies. My first concern was not to lose any girls. None of these girls had traveled. What a goofy thing I did. I had them all wear yellow dresses so they would  stick out in the airport. They received major eye-rolls from all the sophisticated travelers from all over the US when we joined the other students-- all dressed in jeans of course.

               We got to our destination and it seemed that I was the only chaperone  taking my job seriously. No girl got out of my sight! I was a mother hen, an eagle eye, an elephant mom. Now, I was 22 years old.  The other chaperones were older, some much older. The average was about 45 which I thought was ANCIENT. Those chaperones were there for a GOOD TIME!  They  let their kids go wild! They had huge groups---some 30 students in a group (very lucrative because for every student over 20 they received money)---while I had only six girls.

               I am a kid-magnet. One by one the neglected teens from the free-at-last-forties chaperones found their way to my room. My room was PACKED! I had girls sleeping everywhere. Some wanted to smoke which was totally forbidden in their dorm so I said, “You’ll get in trouble in there. If you’re going to smoke, smoke in my room.” One by one I heard the stories of their lives. Molly’s father was a dentist. She had a dental problem and her dad had given her a douche bag to hook up to the door and run water and antibiotics into her mouth!  Madeline was from a very wealthy family. She said, “My parents sent me here just to get away from them. They dump me somewhere each summer.”

               The organization had made all the arrangements for our activities. One activity that horrified me was to be a visit to the Moulin Rouge where the girls were to see a show and each get a half  bottle of champagne. I told the leaders that I felt it was totally inappropriate and that in the US these girls weren’t old enough to drink. My concern was ignored…like an annoying gnat; we went.

               We arrived at the Moulin rouge and sat down. The sets were amazing. There was a huge water tanks with large fish..maybe porpoises that rose out from the stage floor It was grand. The girls were given their champagne. My eagle eyes were in every direction. The other students from the east and west coasts seemed to be seasoned drinkers. My girls from Indiana were naive.  The women who were dancing all had things in common. They were exactly the same height, their wigs which varied with every number were the same color. They were all topless. TOPLESS. Even their breasts were the same size and shape.  I was aghast. It was worst than I thought. I had no idea that the women were going to be topless! Oh! The stories these girls were going to take home....along with their full-color programs!  We left the Moulin Rouge very late and walked toward the subway. Oh no!  Two of my girls (not Arla) were totally drunk! They were stumbling and could barely walk.  The others seemed to be able to  hold their liquor but not mine. They were sick as dogs. And on top of that they were punished by the organization. Tell me this is fair: because they got drunk they were told they weren’t allowed to go on a side trip to Italy! I argued with the leaders. They were inebriated because they were innocent! They were naive. The rest of the students had  tossed down their champagne with gusto and no symptoms of drunkenness!  Oh! This was ridiculous! I think I managed to talk them into letting my girls go on the tour.

               After the tour to the Italian Alps we went on to the study leg of the journey: St. Malo where we stayed in a monastery. Did you know that in monasteries the pillows are attached to the beds?  The bathtubs were immense. I could easily float in one.  The only thing I remember about the meals in the monastery-converted-to-dorms were café au lait in huge mugs in the mornings, and endless meals of mussels which had tiny little bitty spiders in the shells with the fleshy, squishy mussel.

               I made a couple of young women close to my age among the chaperones.  One is even a friend of mine on FB to this day! She is an amazing artist and I have a piece of her work on my wall that she gave us when we got married. She and I were given the opportunity to study along with the kids but oh PULEEEEZ. We were in France! So while our studets were working away, we would wander around the stone paths, sit down, have delicious, strong coffee and pastries.  We found an amazing creperie! Tiny little place with every possible crepe.

 One evening the artist and I decided to hitchhike into town. A man picked us up and asked, “Would you two like to go to a bar?”  We were all for it and he took us to a bar. We sat down and after while I noticed something very strange. Men were kissing men, and women were kissing women and they were touching each other intimately and…..where was that guy who brought us? NO WHERE to be found. He dumped us at a gay bar!  We must have looked a little bewildered because someone else asked us if we needed a ride somewhere and they took us back to the dorm.

                              My girls all got back in one piece. All names have been changed except for Dr. A.K. Smith, Superintendent of Michigan City Area School.  Oh! Arla! After Arla returned from Europe suddenly  all the teachers wanted to be her best friend. She went on to college and got a double masters’ degree: French and international business.